James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

Sleeping Martyr

Sleeping Martyr

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So I was reading through my new Metallica newsletter magazine and it had brand new pics of James with a bunch of his old puppets era gear, some esp explorers and his Mesa Halfstack (he calls it his Mesa "crunch berries")that he says he recorded puppets with. Now I can't figure out which Mesa series its from:

It only has one row knobs which I believe disqualifies it from being a Mark III or IV

It Has 4 switches to the far right, Mark IIs only have three right??

It has a 5 band graphic eq which I believe disqualifies it from being a Mark I

What is it?? I wish I could scan the pic but thats beyond my computer capabilities right now, just thought Id see if the Mesa experts could help!

Also it doesn't look particularly long sitting the cabinet so its not a huge head either
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

I actually can't give you any concrete info Sleeping, but have you tried to The Boogie Board. Hetfield is so close to Mesa geographically, he has had his amps modded to his tastes.

There are a 100+ results on The Boogie Board, for the entry keyword: "Hetfield"

http://forum.grailtone.com/search.php?mode=results
 
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Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

Thanks Sludge, theres a post about this same exact article on there and I guess its a Mark IIC+ . . . . wonder how that compares to my caliber+ . . . . . gotta keep the gas away hahaha
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

I thought it was Hetfield that made the IIC+ the desireable (read: expensive) Mark amp?

Man, I love those old ESPs...
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

The Mark IIC+ is the "holy grail" of Mesa Mark amps from what I gather. I peruse the info like I might read an article about a spaceship for sale. Its way out of my league.

This IIC+ has a number of real, as well as unreal (by ignorance, wishful thinking, and deceit) samples available at any one time on planet Earth.

The .50 Caliber + has a number of fans. Many find the crunch-nosity is better than the Mark Series. The cleans are praised, but I really don't care about cleans. The Caliber Series and Mark series are very different. The three most obvious that the Calibers are "50 Watt" models which have much smaller transformers, and only two power tubes. The two channels are not exactly independent either.

For less than $500 or so, the .50 Cal + model is a beast, made in USA! I am happy with mine!
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

Hetfield's amp is a Mark IIC+. I'll try to shed a bit of light on his amp and the several completely false statements about Boogies from this era.

First of all, the pre-Mark IV amps (from which the 50 cal is based) DO NOT have independent channels. The rotary EQ is shared by all of the channels. The optional graphic EQ can be assigned to all channels, lead only, or switched in via footswitch. The gain levels of the channels also depend on each other. The 'volume' knob feeds signal into ALL of the channels. If it's too low your lead channel will be quite clean or if it's too high you won't have a clean sound. For most of these amps the sweet spot is around 7. The clean will be clean enough to be usable, while the lead will be dirty enough to not sound wimpy. The master volume is self explanatory and affects all channels. The lead drive and lead master controls affect the amount of gain and relative volume of the lead channel. It should be noted that most caliber series amps do not have these two controls.

As far as switches are concerned, any 100 watt or Simul-class Mark II or Mark III long head with EQ will have four switches. From left to right they are EQ in / EQ Auto, Full Power / Half Power (Class A on Simul-class models), standby, and power. On short heads the Full / Half power switch is on the back, and 60W amps don't have one.

Tone-wise the Mark IIC+, Mark III, 50 Cal, Quad, and Studio preamp all sound very similar on the lead channel. You can get a Puppets-era Metallica sound out of any of them, but the graphic EQ is absolutely required.

I'll try to keep an eye on the thread in case anyone has any further questions.
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

Cool info, thanks dys and sludge. I had a DC5 a while back, mainly because I thought it would get that heavy crunch more similar to the puppets sound. I was wrong.. of course the cal series amp most of the talk was based from was the .50 cal, not the dual cal series. I thought they had the same sound, just two channels for more tweaking. Too bad that thing sounded like a SS fender cranked for the gain channel. The boost helped a lot, but it was still too saggy. Maybe I need to try the .50 cal?
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

I love my .50 cal and every single time w my band plays a show I get at least one person coming up to me afterwards commenting on the tone without fail, check out my bands myspace to hear it in action, no distortion pedals or outboard eqs, just straight in www.myspace.com/harmband except for "Uncivil Protest" which is a solid state randall, the cal gets a nice tight Puppets tyoe sound, still curious about the mark IIC+ though . . .
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

Sleeping Martyr said:
I love my .50 cal and every single time w my band plays a show I get at least one person coming up to me afterwards commenting on the tone without fail, check out my bands myspace to hear it in action, no distortion pedals or outboard eqs, just straight in www.myspace.com/harmband except for "Uncivil Protest" which is a solid state randall, the cal gets a nice tight Puppets tyoe sound, still curious about the mark IIC+ though . . .
Click to expand...
**** that .50 cal is fat. What speakers are in your cab?
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

Sleeping Martyr, your band sounds freakin great! I dig "No Longer Man", and "Skid Song". I have liked your tone since I found out about it on your "vote for my band" post a while ago.

Which tunes are you using the H3 on? I love how devastatingly big/thick the H3 sounds when driven!

What wah are you using?

I LOVE the thickness of your tone, ala DOWN and TOOL! It's right up my alley, when I think of my ideal "modern tone".

Cheers!
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

Hahaha, thanks dude!! Thanks SO much!! We just had the CD mastered by Nick Blagona so everything sounds extra great haha. Ummm, "No Longer Men" and "Skid song" are a Les Paul with a Zakk Wylde set (though it now much more happily has a C-5/Fred set) I believe "Suffer Again"s rhythm tracks were my H3 SG (Pep styles) but theres also some Dimebucker in there. The middle rhythm parts of "One Hit" (after the bass break) are all the H3, I just put another soing up called "Organized Disinterest", every distorted guitar (I believe) is the H3, possibly my favourite rhythm tone on the album, thick as all hell!!

Thanks for the comments sludge, NOLA tone all the way!! haha, pure guitar to amp tone!! What kinda sounds are you getting outta your .50 cal, anytrhing recorded?? Cheers dude!!

Its just a normal dunlop Wah from about 10 years ago, nothing special but I LOVE the sweep/tone of it, has a real vocal quality . . maybe cause I have yet to clean it in 10 years haha
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

Hahaha, **** Gas. I got my .50 cal off ebay for like $600 . . . according to the dude he bought it off Clint Lowery from Sevendust, whether thats true or nor I don't know. The .50 cal reacts very differently as well depending on the speakers/cab it goes through. The rectifier cab gives it a huge deep/thick tone, a marshall cab gets a crunchy gritty tone . . . . goo dluck fighting the gas dude haha, $435 is pretty sweet
 
Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

suislidE03 said:
I had a DC5 a while back, mainly because I thought it would get that heavy crunch more similar to the puppets sound. I was wrong.. of course the cal series amp most of the talk was based from was the .50 cal, not the dual cal series. I thought they had the same sound, just two channels for more tweaking. Too bad that thing sounded like a SS fender cranked for the gain channel. The boost helped a lot, but it was still too saggy.
Click to expand...

I owned a DC-5 for over ten years, and the amp you describe is nothing at all like the DC-5s I've heard in my lifetime. You can get some very heavy sounds from a DC-5 with little work and a boost out front. You can't get the tightness found in something from the Rectifier series -- I agree with you that the boost helps -- but you can have both feet firmly planted in metal territory with a DC-5.

I sold my DC-5 just over a year ago, and it was painful letting go of that amp, but I have a Rec as well and couldn't justify keeping both given the type of music I played through each. Nonetheless, the DC-5 is a highly versatile amp that gets tones well beyond the "SS fender cranked" kind (which, incidentally, is available from the clean channel in "Pushed" mode).

- Keith
 
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Re: James Hetfields Old Mesa mark ?? Mesa experts help

Sleeping Martyr said:
Thanks for the comments sludge, NOLA tone all the way!! haha, pure guitar to amp tone!! What kinda sounds are you getting outta your .50 cal, anytrhing recorded?? Cheers dude!!
Click to expand...

I would say my combo has the DOWN sound with the EQ on. I have a vertical Recto 2x12, but I found the V30's too crispy/fizzy (I don't play live/no recordings). I put an EVM-12L in the top, and an Emi Swamp Thang in the bottom. I actually have had the EQ turned off for the past few months.
 
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